Jets way off goal-scoring pace

Most players having off-years

Jets forward Evander Kane (left) is one of only a few Jets on pace for a career year in terms of goal scoring. Leading point scorer Blake Wheeler (right) is well off the goal pace from his career year. (BRIAN DONOGH/WINNIPEG SUN FILES)

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Winnipeg’s offensive struggles have been well documented, but a closer look provides a little more insight and perspective about the main culprits.

You can never expect everyone on a team to have their most productive seasons, but the Jets have just four players who are scoring at a pace that is better than their career best. For a team so young, there should probably be more players whose numbers are on the rise.

Leading the way are two youngsters.

Evander Kane is scoring at a rate that would give him 11 more goals if he played the same number of games as he did in his previous best season.

Sophomore forward Alex Burmistrov is next at plus-9.

After that, the pickings are slim. Bottom six forwards Tanner Glass and Tim Stapleton are the only other players producing their best offensive seasons, but they are not looked upon to contribute greatly anyway.

The three forwards who are well off their career years are Bryan Little (-10), Nik Antropov (-12) and Eric Fehr (-18), who hasn’t been able to rebound after off-season shoulder surgery.

“It is getting frustrating,” said Chris Thorburn, who is without a goal in all 49 games.

“In order to win games in this league, or in any sport, you gotta score goals, and we’re just falling short of doing that.”

FIRST FLIGHT

As expected, the Jets returned forwards Aaron Gagnon and Patrice Cormier to the St. John’s IceCaps on Wednesday so they could play three games in the AHL over the next four days.

Gagnon made his Jets debut against the Rangers on Tuesday night, getting nearly nine minutes of ice time. It was a long road back for the Quesnel, B.C., native, who underwent ACL surgery after last season and missed Jets camp as a result.

The Jets called him up to replace the injured Burmistrov because he had turned it on lately for the IceCaps, which is a sign he’s rounding back into form.

“It’s a long recovery,” Gagnon said.

“Luckily it was over the summer, but I’m just starting to get back in the groove of things and it’s feeling good now.”

IN THE HANGAR

The next time the Jets will assemble is on Monday in Philadelphia for a practice. Their first game after the break is Tuesday against the Flyers … Only three players have perfect attendance so far this season: Andrew Ladd, Kyle Wellwood and Tanner Glass have played in all of Winnipeg’s 50 games … The Jets had five or more shorthanded situations in 12 of their first 23 games. That’s happened just twice in their last 27 … A story about the return of the Jets is featured over four pages in this week’s Sports Illustrated. Among those quoted are Evander Kane, Tanner Glass, Claude Noel and Monty Hall.